Abstract. A high resolution continuous reconstruction of last glacial wind directions is
based on provenance analysis of eolian sediments in a sediment core from the
Dehner dry Maar in the Eifel region (Germany). This Maar is suitable to archive
easterly wind directions due to its location west of the Devonian carbonate
basins of the Eifel-North-South-Zone. Thus, eolian sediments with high
clastic carbonate content can be interpreted as an east wind signal. The
detection of such east wind sediments is applied by a new module of the
RADIUS grain size analyze technique. The investigated time period from
40.3–12.9 ka BP can be subclassified in three units: The first unit covers
the periods of the ending GIS-9, H4, and GIS-8. With the exception of H4
(40–38 ka BP) the content of organics in our record is relatively high. With the end
of GIS-8 (38–36.5 ka) the content of organics decrease and the content of dust
increases rapidly. The second time slice (36–24 ka BP) has an increased
content of dust accumulation and a high amount of east winds layers (up to
19% of the dust storms per century came from the east). In comparison, the
subsequent period (24–12.9 ka BP) is characterized by lower east wind sediments
again. Increased frequencies of east wind occur during the time intervals
corresponding with the Heinrich events H1 and H2. The unusual H3 show no higher
east wind frequency but so do its former and subsequent Greenland stadials.
The late LGM (21–18 ka BP) is characterized by a slightly elevated east wind
frequency again.